Oude Bakelsedijk (archeologische route)

Old Bakel Dike Between Milheeze and De Rips. Century-old thoroughfare through de Peel.

Over the old Bakel dike, now visible as an eroded unpaved path, peat was transported for centuries by the inhabitants of de Peel. This peat was cut in the swampy peat bog, which lay along Bakel, as fuel, stable litter, fertilizer and for sale(although the latter was often illegal). In 1810 it was one of only two major roads that ran through Gemert-Bakel. The Oude Bakelse dike ran from Eindhoven via Helmond between Bakel and Milheeze to Nijmegen via Oploo. Near this road important archaeological finds from the Stone Age have also been made. The quantity and nature of the finds indicates that people lived there, thousands of years before this road existed. 

The previously mentioned roads have been unpaved through roads. Through roads are roads connecting two or more major centres. It is therefore typical that the Oude Bakelsedijk did run through Helmond and Oploo, where in Oploo it could connect directly to Napoleon's Post roads (where way stations with fresh horses and carriages were set up) but passed between the more agricultural Bakel and Milheeze. Peat and peat has been of great importance to farmers in the Peel for centuries. By cutting peat, one could obtain a good fertiliser for the fields through mixing it with animal manure, and several types of peat are also very useful as fuel.(In the so-called Bolle Akkers, Bakel, one can see another aspect of this farming)In a landscape where traditionally there were few trees, peat was therefore a good substitute. Large holes were dug into the landscape to excavate peat, especially the deeper lying black peat for their own use. This made it a treacherous landscape for shepherds and flocks at times. Now the Peel was owned by the municipality which allowed communal use, but it was forbidden to cut more peat than one needed and then sell it. Separate mention is reserved for the peat litter that was processed in large numbers in the Peel in the second half of the nineteenth century as a substitute for straw in stables (and was even used for baby cribs) because of its great moisture-absorbing capacity. It was a very popular product that was even exported to Switzerland. Factories that first sold black peat as fuel, on specially purchased land, also called peat bogs, switched to peat litter. Helenaveen and later Griendtveen is a very well-known factory name. An ideal factory location is where there was both a waterway and a railway to transport the peat litter. Deurne had the Deurnsche Canal dug in 1876 and benefited greatly from it. In the twentieth century, the importance of peat litter slowly declined and now peat is most often processed into potting soil, again because of its good water absorption.

Sources:

F.H. Horsten, Through roads in the Netherlands, 16th to 19th centuries: a historical road atlas, 2005, Aksant, Amsterdam

H.F. van de Griendt, Uit Spaghnum geboren: a century of peat litter industry in the Netherlands: 1882-1983, 2002, Stichting Zuidelijk Historisch Contact, Tilburg

P.A. Schendeler, De Praehistorische, de historische en de toekomstige Peel, 1922, Gebroeders L.&M. Bek, Veghel